Re: Metrical Stress, Feet, Syllables, Genders, Email Servers etc.

En réponse à Philippe Caquant :


>Sure, we have to choose, either masculine or feminine,
>and 'ordinateur' (a French word specially invented for
>that machine - by the way, more acute than 'computer',
>because computers do other things than just computing
>by now) is masculine.
"Ordinateur" was *not* especially invented to name the machine. It was a 
little known adjective used to describe God as "ordering things around" (as 
in "putting them in the right place", not "commanding them" :))) ). Since 
its ecclesiastic use was little known, it was easily adopted, but certainly 
not created for the machine (and anyway, with the arrival of Windows, we 
know now that it was poorly chosen :))))) ).

>  But the point is that one refers
>to a computer as if it was a human being, or at least
>an animal.
Only because we don't have a neuter gender in French.

>  It's not just considered like any machine
>(the other special machine is the automobile, which in
>French is feminine, but it is not the same kind of
>relations).
Actually, I call my toaster "grille-pain" as "il" in French, and I don't 
personify it less than my computer. Actually, I don't personify either. My 
computer is just a tool, a very complicated hammer, and nothing else. And 
people had better learn to treat their computers that way, rather than give 
them nearly human qualities...

>  You can say from a computer that 'he told
>you something', but hardly from a dictaphone or
>automatic phone answerer, although they deliver you
>vocal messages.
I actually never heard someone say "l'ordinateur m'a dit...". It's always 
something like: "quand je fais ça, ça fait...": "when I do that, it 
does...". Note the extremely neutral "ça".

>As to my personal computer's name (Microsoft requested
>one when I registered !) I of course called it HAL,
>like at least 30% of PC users I think. Cruel lack of
>imagination.
Funny, never had to give a name to mine. Are you using Windows XP? 
Microsoft is really stealing everything from UNIX/Linux :))) .

Christophe Grandsire.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang. 

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